A National 'Civics Lesson'

Schools Prepare for Constitution's 200th Year

As the nation prepares to celebrate the
200th anniversary of the signing of the U.S.
Constitution next September, educators and
civic leaders are taking steps to make schools
a major focus of the year's events.
From the preparation of special curricular
materials, to the sponsorship of student essay
contests, national organizations have
planned an educational agenda that should
fulfill Chief Justice Warren E. Burger's
pledge that the bicentennial would be a "civics
lesson for all of us."

Mr. Burger made the remark this summer,
when he announced that he would relinquish
his role as the nation's chief judicial
officer to devote full time to the chairmanship
of the Commission on the
Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution.

Following his lead, educators have seized
the occasion as an unparalleled opportunity
to teach their students about the origins
and continuing relevance of the nation's
founding legal document.

"The Constitution is basic to everything we
do in this country," said Lewis E. Huffman,
director of social-studies education for the Delaware department of public instruction.
"It is important for students to understand
this. "

"We want this to be an educational celebration,"
said Harold Kessler, director of social-
studies education for the School District of Philadelphia. "In addition to
the celebration, there has to be a
cerebration."

And Robert Mack, chairman of
the Constitution Committee of the
Washington State Centennial Commission,
predicted that, "after next
year, public and private schools will
teach better how important the Constitution
is in everybody's life."

Materials and Programs

To help accomplish these goals, organizations
ranging from the American
Bar Association to the National
Conference of Christians and Jews
Inc. have joined education groups in
producing a variety of programs and
materials for the schools.

Project '87, a joint venture of the
American Political Science Association
and the American Historical
Association, has sponsored the development
of "Lessons on the Constitution,"
a series that includes 60 activities
to enhance textbook coverage of
constitutional issues and themes.

The lessons were developed after
a 1980 conference sponsored by the
project found an "inadequate treatment
of the Constitution itself and
constitutional themes in textbooks,"
said Cynthia Harrison, deputy director
of Project '87.

The group has sold all of its first
printing of 5,000 copies of the lessons,
and plans a second printing, she said.
The National Conference of
Christians and Jews has also developed
"curriculum enrichment" materials
for students aimed at fostering
an understanding of how constitutional
principles, such as due
process of law and the separation of
powers, affect students' daily lives,
according to Leah Sayles, director of
the conference's Living Constitution
Project.

The materials also demonstrate
how the Constitution "enables us to
have a pluralistic society," Ms.
Sayles added.

"It was a natural for us to be involved."

Teacher Workshops

To help prepare teachers for the year's events, the National Council
for the Social Studies is sponsoring
workshops in all 50 states and the
District of Columbia on Nov. 15. At
least 6,500 teachers are expected to
participate in the more than 110
workshops, according to Mary Kennedy,
staff director of the council's
bicentennial project.

Ms. Kennedy said the workshops
would provide teachers with an opportunity
to study, discuss, and think
about the Constitution, so that they
can help their students "understand
it and care about it more."

"Everybody can always use new
information and a fresh approach,"
she said.

To encourage students to think
about constitutional issues, several
organizations are sponsoring bicentennial
contests and competitions.
The American Bar Association, the
Bicentennial Commission, and USA
Today, for example, are jointly sponsoring
an essay contest, open to highschool
students, carrying the theme,
"The Constitution: How Does the Separation
of Powers Make It Work?"

Study and 'Celebration'

a mock-trial competition for high-school
students, is encouraging students
to celebrate the Constitution as well as to study it, according to Minna
S. Novick, bicentennial coordinator of
the A.B.A.'S special committee on
youth education for citizenship.

"The Constitution is always
taught," she said. "There is not
enough celebration, not enough
commemoration."

On the other hand, the Center for
Civic Education, which has created
a "national bicentennial competition,"
is using the contest to improve
the teaching of the document, according
to Charles N. Quigley, executive
director of the center.

Students entering the competition,
which will be conducted each year through 1991, will prepare by taking
a six-week unit developed by the center
on the philosophical basis of the
Constitution, Mr. Quigley said.

"We are really trying to help kids
understand the basic concepts underlying
the system," he added.

State Programs

State groups are also developing
programs for the schools. In several
states, such as Virginia, the state bicentennial
commission will provide
speakers; in Washington State, the
speakers will be actors posing as the
Constitution's framers.

In other states, local activity is
aimed at highlighting the state's
particular role in the framing or
ratification of the Constitution.

In Delaware, which prides itself on
being the first state to ratify the Constitution,
the Delaware Heritage
Commission has commissioned a 4th grade
textbook on Delaware history.
Although the state has been planning
to produce a textbook for years, the
bicentennial provided the impetus,
according to Mr. Huffman.

States that were not among the
original 13 colonies are also tailoring
their bicentennial activities to
local history. The Alabama Humanities
Foundation is planning to develop classroom materials on Hugo Black, the former Supreme Court
justice from Alabama, and on key
Supreme Court cases-such as New
York Times v. Sullivan, the landmark
libel case-that involved the
state.

Walter Cox, director of the foundation,
said the state's current budget
crisis may curtail the commission's
ability to distribute nationally developed
materials. But he said there
is so much local interest in producing
bicentennial materials that the
lack of state coordination may lead
to a duplication of effort, rather than
a curb on activities.

"There is so much fine work being
done at the national level," he said.
"People shouldn't reinvent the
wheel in every school district."

Vol. 06, Issue 02, Pages 1, 20

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